Elite crimes are acts committed by the rich and those who are financially well in the society. This type of crime is usually involved by the heads of corporate, governmental and non governmental organizations. Such persons are highly respected and hold high social status in the society and the organizations they head. These crimes are also referred to white collar crimes. It usually involves carefully planning and scheming to steal from public coffers for personal gain. That is why such crime cannot be detected easily. They can have a lot of negative effects to the organization because a lot of money can be stolen. The transactions in the deal to steal money are usually very complex and too remote from the common human criminality. People who are affected most by the scam are the customers in business organizations while in government organizations are the common man. For example the people are affected economically when money meant for improvement of infrastructure is embezzled by the leaders (Crewe and Lippen 128).
There are various reasons why people in the organization result to elite crime. Some of the reasons include jealousy, anger, greed and revenge. Occupational crime are committed to promote personal interest through altering records i.e. fraud and overcharging. Corporate crime occurs when staff commits criminal acts like price fixing, advertising falsely, and ghost workers and the like in order to benefit themselves and the company. The urge to continue with criminality is encouraged when the rewards are handsome and steals successfully without being got. Research reveals that an individual who steals for that first time and escapes without being got is likely to repeat the vice. But if an individual steals for the first time and he is got and punished he is likely not to repeat the vice again. Such a person would likely quit the act of criminality.
Punishment of an individual when he commits crime discourages people from indulging in criminal tendencies. Punishment involves a person being detained in prison, rejection and rebuking in the society, beating in some circumstances and administering workloads to the offenders. Offenders of elite crime are not easily got because of their economic wellbeing and their must be enough evidence for that individual to be prosecuted in court of law. Some people also commit crime because of the opportunity available to commit the crime. The probability of a person committing crime in an area full of security agents is low, hence availability of security agents deter an individual from committing a crime. The risks involved in crime also determine whether the crime would be committed or not (Hagan 154)
Conflict theory analyses that cases of crime are the social and economic that are in disagreement within society. Those who are in power are said to be favored by the criminal justice system and they set laws that tend to be in operation on their behalf hence the laws put in place to control those who are less privileged in society. According to Karl Marx (1818-1883), the capitalist control the economy (bourgeoisie) they control the means of production and others (the proletariat) were the laborers in the farms of the wealthy. Those who are in power steals and they are not arrested while the poor when he steals they are arrested for longer time. Theft of chicken might lead one to be arrested for longer time than a person who steals millions through illegal tendering process. The laws also protect the powerful from physical attacks by the poor. This theory emphasizes that there is inequality in our society and those who are poor are in conflict with the rich. Those who are in authority would always commit crimes but they can go away without being arrested because the law favors them. In the process of the legal rights of low class in society might be neglected. Those who are in the middle class are also struggling to reach at the top and tend to side with the rich hoping to rise to the top.
A lot of theorists have recommended what can be considered elements needed when committing a crime. The elements considered are motivation, skill, and the opportunity to commit such crimes. People who commit elite crimes have all the elements needed to do so hence executing it perfectly. They have the opportunity because they are the once dealing with those issues at hand. Elite crime is difficult to control due its complexity in handling the criminals involved in the crime. The perpetrators are usually people who are in power and the laws tend to protect them. They also use their authority to manipulate the outcome of the court proceedings in order to walk out of courts free.
However elite criminals are usually followed upon when they are out of power. For instance when a person retires or is sacked from the position he holds in an organization he is usually arrested and charged for the past offences. The majority of these people are the head of states where the president is above the law. But there are other ways to discourage elite crime. Media has played a crucial role in revealing the crimes leaders commit. By exposing such people they would be subject of condemnation by the public hence most of them feel ashamed of their corrupt ways and would not repeat the mistakes again. When media exposes such a person also the image of that person would be tarnished and would never be elected or appointed again to hold any public office.
Hiring of external audit firms would also help in reducing crime in an organization. These people acts as independent watchdogs’.This people would account for every penny in governmental organization and other private firms. When certain amount money is found missing serious actions should be taken to whomever responsible for that docket. That is the leader of that section. Everybody should be held accountable for the loss to keep people checking on themselves. There should also be legislation that gives those who are employed , clients or the public a role in supervising their own money often be updated in order to keep in check the records of the organization. If money is embezzled then the people would know easily and it would shape the behavior of the criminals (Siegel 158).
Laws should be put in place not in favor of the rich alone but should apply to everybody regardless of their social status. A person who steals more money should be arrested and jailed for longer time to deter others from doing the same things. Although there is no evidence that imprisonment of the offenders reduces crimes statistically, of course such individual when he is in jail the crime is already prevented.
Works cited
Crewe, Don and Ronnie Lippen. Existentialist Criminology. New York: Taylor & Francis, 2009
Hagan, Frank. Introduction to Criminology: Theories, Methods, and Criminal Behavior. 7th ed. New York: SAGE, 2010
Siegel, Larry. Criminology. 10th ed. NEw York: Cengage Learning, 2008